Even though Christmas day is not
the real anniversary of our Lord’s birth, but more properly an annunciation day
or date of His human begetting (Luke 1:28), nevertheless, since the celebration
of our Lord’s birth is not a matter of Divine appointment or injunction, but
merely a tribute of respect to Him, it is not necessary for us to quibble particularly
about the date. We can join with the civilized world in celebrating the grand
event on the day which the majority celebrates “Christmas Day.” The lesson for
the occasion is a most happy choice, fitting well to the series of lessons it
follows.

“THE PRINCE OF PEACE”

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and
the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, and The Prince
of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.”
(Isa. 9:6,7)

The
standpoint of the Prophet in Isaiah 9:2-7 is the dawn of the Millennial Age,
and in v. 2, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.” The
reference here is to the world of mankind, all of whom will at that time
recognize the presence of the Lord and His Kingdom established; for it is
written that “every eye shall see him.” (Rev. 1:7) The world that has walked in
the darkness of ignorance and superstition for six thousand years will then
begin to see the glorious light of truth and righteousness, and in the earthly
phase of the Kingdom they will see the grand illustrations and rewards of
righteousness.

Though they dwell in the land of the shadow of death (i.e.,
fleshly Israel
under the condemnation of their Law Covenant), “a light shineth brightly over
them.” Yes, the light will shine with special brilliancy upon fleshly Israel:
then their blindness will be turned away and the favors of the new dispensation
will again be “of the Jew first and also [afterward] of the Gentile” (Rom.
2:10); and through the secondary instrumentality of the fleshly seed of Abraham
shall all the nations of the world be blessed. The Ancient Worthies of that
nation will be the visible rulers of the world, and their new work will begin
at Jerusalem, bringing order out of confusion,
peace out of discord and making Jerusalem
a praise in the whole world. It was with reference to this that the Prophet wrote
again, saying: “Arise, give light, for thy light is come, and the glory of the
Lord is shining forth over thee. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth
and gross darkness the people; but over thee the Lord will shine forth, and his
glory will be seen over thee. And nations shall walk by thy light, and kings by
the brightness of thy shining... And the sons of the stranger shall build up
thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee.” (Isa. 60:1-3, 10)

“Thou hast multiplied the nation
[Israel – a reference to their gathering together again as a nation after the
long dispersion of nearly two thousand years as fugitives among all the
nations: and also to their reinforcement by the resurrection of their Ancient Worthies
and heroes], made great their joy: they rejoice before thee as with joy in
harvest, as men are glad when they divide the spoil.” (Isa. 9:3) Such, indeed,
will be the joy of Israel
when the blessings of their restoration to Divine favor begin to be realized.

“For thou
hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of
his oppressor [the heavy burdens of oppression imposed upon them and the
persecutions inflicted by their Gentile enemies during the long period of their
blindness and exile], as in the day of Midian” (Isa. 9:4) ─ when a great
victory was won for them by Gideon’s little band of 300 under the Lord’s
direction, without bloodshed and without strife. (Judges 7:1-23) Even so shall
it be when the Lord shall again fight for Israel; it will not be by their own
power that the victory of the final battle will be secured. (See Ezek. 38:11,
15, 23 – also compare verse 4 with Ezek. 39:8-15)

Isaiah 9:6:
Why is all this return of Divine favor to Israel? Is it because of worthiness
in them? Surely not; for to this day they are a stiff-necked people, and their blindness
and hardness of heart continue, although we are within only a few more years of
the time all these things shall be fulfilled. The reason for it is that the
Lord hath remembered His Covenant with their fathers (Lev. 26:42, 45; Jer.
31:34), and that in fulfilment of that Covenant a child has been born unto them
who was destined to be a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of Israel;
and now (at the time indicated in the prophecy) “the government is placed upon
his shoulders.” Dimly this light of the world shone upon Israel at the First Advent of
Messiah; but when “the light shineth in darkness, the darkness comprehended it
not.”(John 1:5) “He came unto his own, but his own received him not.” (John
1:11) It is only at the Second Advent that they recognize Him as the promised
seed of Abraham and their long-looked for Messiah. “They shall look upon Him
whom they have pierced, and shall mourn for Him.” (Zech. 12:10)

“And his
name is called Wonderful [What a wonder indeed to Israel specially, that
the despised Nazarene, the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, whom they
hated and crucified and reviled, even to this day, was indeed their Messiah,
and they knew Him not. What a wonder, too, to them specially, will be
the forgiving love that so meekly bore their reproaches and sacrificed even
unto death to redeem them from the curse of the Law, and that now returns to
restore and bless them! What wonderful, wonderful love, wonderful condescend-sion
and grace, and wonderful exaltation and glory and power!], Counsellor [not counsellor
of the mighty God, as some translators rendered it; for Paul significantly inquires
concerning Jehovah, “Who hath been his counsellor?” (Rom. 11:34) He needed no counsellor,
but poor fallen humanity does need such a wise counsellor, and He will teach them
and they shall walk in His ways. (Isa. 2:3)] The mighty God [“a Savior and a
great one” (Isa. 19:20)], The Everlasting Father [the new life-giver to our
dead race – the second Adam (1 Cor. 15:45)], The Prince of Peace [whose
glorious reign shall be one of righteousness, bringing with it all the blessed
fruits of righteousness – peace and joy and satisfaction and everlasting rest].”
(Isa 9:6)

And in verse 7 of Isaiah,
Chapter 9: His dominion shall increase until all things are subdued under Him.
It shall extend, not only to the ends of the earth, but eventually all things
in heaven and in earth are to be united under His headship as the
representative of Jehovah, who would have all men honor the Son, even as they
honor the Father. (Psa. 72:7; Eph. 1:10; John 5:23)

“The zeal of the Lord of hosts will
perform this.” (Isa. 37:32) Such is Jehovah’s purpose, and thus He declares
that it shall be accomplished; and our hearts leap for joy as we realize, not
only the glorious import of this prophecy, but also the fact that the time is
at hand, and that a score or so of years future will see the kingdom
established and its blessings beginning.

The common interpretation of
this prophecy regards it as fulfilled upon Israel
at the First Advent, and the Kingdom
of God as established then in the Gospel Church;
and the great increase in the numbers and powers of the nominal church of all
denom­inations, Papal and Protestant, as the predicted increase of Christ’s
government. (v.7)

Such a fulfillment would not be
worthy of the record. Christ does not reign in Christendom; its general
character is anti-Christian. The only sense in which Christ’s Kingdom was begun
at the First Advent was in its embryo condition; and this, the only true
Kingdom of Christ in the world, has, like the Lord,
been unrecognized in the world, except, like Him, to be despised and forsaken
and to suffer violence. Its numbers have always been small and its
circumstances humble; for not many rich and great, etc., are called. (1 Cor.
1:26-29; James 2:5)

Nor did the nation of Israel at
the First Advent see or comprehend the light of Christ, nor did He at that time
break their yoke or deliver them from the rod of their oppressor; for in
consequence of their failure to recognize the light when it began to shine upon
them, they were blinded, the rod of the oppressor came upon them with increased
force and they have never yet been relieved, nor will they be until their
Messiah is recognized as having come again, a Second Time; this time without a
sin-offering unto salvation. (Heb. 9:28)

Let us rejoice for them and for all mankind that the blessed
day is nigh, even at the door. Rightly viewed, this prophecy is full of
rapturous inspiration.

JACOB’S RESCUE NEAR

But evidently the Prophet’s vision, while it glanced upon
the preaching of our Lord and the apostles in Galilee, and glanced down through
the Gospel Age and noted how this light glinted here and there as a wonderful “lamp,”
nevertheless rested not until it reached the very end of this Age. There in
prophetic vision Isaiah seems to see the end of Jacob’s trouble – Israel’s
deliverance from the blind­ness that has been upon her, her acceptance of the
Lord as the Messiah the time mentioned by another prophet, when the Lord would
pour upon them the spirit of prayer and supplication and they should look upon
Him whom they had pierced and mourn for Him ─ at the time mentioned by the
Apostle Paul, when the fullness of the Gentiles having come in (the full number
of the Gentiles to complete the elect number of the Church), Divine mercy shall
go forth from the Church to bless the world and shall first of all rest upon
Israel according to the flesh, “They shall obtain mercy through your
mercy.” (Rom. 11:31)

The third and fourth verses of
Isaiah, Chapter 9, we believe, are near fulfillment. In the Revised Version it
reads, “Thou hast multiplied the nation, thou hast increased her joy: they joy
before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they
divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the
rod of his oppressor, thou hast broken in the day of Midian.” The nation of Israel
is very much increased today, but their joy is not yet accomplished because
this great deliverance here mentioned has not yet been accomplished. It is to
be accomplished in the “Day of Trouble” which began in 1914, and is now
recognized by many.

The
fifth verse of Isaiah, Chapter 9, seems to be more intelligently rendered in
the revised version: “For all the armor of the armed man in the tumult, and the
garments rolled in blood, shall even be for burning, for fuel of fire.” The
thought seems to be that at that time there will come the end of warfare, as
the Scriptures have declared. The Time of Trouble with which the Millennium
will be introduced is the means by which the Lord will overthrow all the powers
of evil, as it is written, “He shall cause wars to cease unto the ends of the
earth.” Under the righteous reign which will then follow, men will learn war no
more, but will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning
hooks. At the present time the reverse of all this is in operation, nor can we hope
for a change such as the Lord’s Word here and elsewhere predicts by any other
power than from above. Hence our prayer as our Lord instructed and in harmony
with our hopes, “Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is done in
heaven.”

THE GOVERNMENT UPON HIS
SHOULDERS

As the
verses through five indicate the coming joys and blessings and cessation of
war, verse six points out how this would be accomplished. This is shown by its
introduction with the word “for.” This verse goes back of the promised
blessings to point out how they will be introduced. (1) A child will be born ─
a son will be given ─ a gift from God. (2) Passing over his earthly ministry
and faithfulness, whereby the Lord Jesus was tested and proven worthy of the
favors here prophetically assured Him as the overcomer, we have the declaration
that the government will be upon His shoulders. This is an old-style figurative
way of declaring that the authority and honor will be laid upon the Lord Jesus.
The same thought is still carried out in the armies of the world, whose
generals have upon their shoulders epaulets in which the dignity of their rank
is noted, is indicated. So upon our Lord Jesus the heavenly Father has placed
the dignity and responsibility of being the great King who in due time, as the
Father’s representative, as the great glorified Mediator, shall reign for a
thousand years to restore order in the world, to put down all insubordination,
to destroy every enemy of righteousness and truth and to exalt everyone who is
the friend of these Divine principles.

It is worthy to note that this
authority or government is conferred upon our Lord before He assumes the
various offices subsequently made: remarkably few recognize the authority of
this great Captain of our Salvation whom God has set forth. Only comparatively few
recognize Him truly and render Him obedience and refuse not Him who speaketh from
heaven. These few have the eyes of their understanding opened and see what the others
do not see: and the ears of their understanding opened that they hear and
comprehend what others do not comprehend. To them the Master is the Father’s
representative and all in all even now ─ even before the time has come for Him
to take His great power and reign, even before He has established truth and
righteousness in the world. By the eye of faith they see Him, worship, adore,
obey and follow Him.

KNOWLEDGE OF HIS GLORY WORLDWIDE

But it implies much more than such an acknowledgment of our
Lord Jesus by the Church. It implies a world-wide knowledge, as it is written, “Unto
him every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess, to the glory of God the
Father.” (Phil. 2:9-11) The govern­ment or authority is not laid upon His
shoulders in vain, and the fact that He has not exercised this authority in now
nearly two thousand years’ triumph and ascension up on high is merely in accord
with the Scriptural declaration that the Father has a “due time” (1 Tim. 2:3-6)
set at which the Son shall take unto Himself His great power and reign, and in association
with Himself the Church, the Little Flock, gathered out from the world during this
Gospel Age.

The time when the Lord shall manifest to the world His government,
His authority, His rule, is represented in Daniel 12:1, 2, by the words, “stand
up.” “At that time shall Michael [another name for our glorious Lord] will
stand up, and there shall be a time of trouble such as was not since there was
a nation; and at that time thy people shall be delivered, everyone found
written in the book.” Our Lord will not only have the authority He will use it,
and one of the first works, we are assured, will be the suppression of evil ─
not only the suppression of Satan, the prince of this world, who now worketh in
the hearts of the children of disobedience, and who, we are assured, will be
bound at the beginning of that Millennial reign, but additionally all the works
of the devil, all institutions of evil, moral, social, financial, that are now
injuring the world of mankind and cooperating in effecting the groaning and
travailing of the whole creation. All these will be suppressed as soon as the
proper time shall come, and He upon whose shoulders the power and authority have
been placed shall take unto Himself His great power and shall begin to reign.
No longer, we may be sure, will any evil be licensed; no longer will the making
of spirituous liquors be permitted, authorized and licensed, nor the sale of
these nor any other harmful thing be allowed to do injury in God’s Holy Kingdom.
(Isa. 11:9)

It will be then,
at that time, that the whole world shall begin to recognize the great King whom
God will thus set in the throne of the world’s dominion to rule it, to order
it, to subdue it, to lift it up out of sin and degradation and to bring it into
harmony again with God as it was before sin entered.

“COUNSELLOR,” MIGHTY-ONE, FATHER

The great
Mediator, the Christ, “Prophet, Priest and King,” Judge, the Seed of Abraham in
whom all the families of the earth shall be blessed, shall have various names; His
character and work shall be recognized from various standpoints. He will be the
Wonderful One that in Himself He will manifest more than others the Father's
character and likeness and nature. He will be Counsellor, Teacher, Instructor,
Helper, Guide, for the whole world of mankind. He will be the Mighty God ─ the
One with all power and authority to deal with mankind throughout the Millennial
Age.

There will
be no appeal from His righteous laws, regulations and decisions, because the
Father hath committed all judgment unto the Son: the whole matter will
be left in His hands. From another standpoint He will be the “Everlasting
Father.” Having purchased the life of Adam and His race with the sacrifice of
His own Human life, our Lord having been granted a new life in His
resurrection, will have at His disposal the life which He bought in the
sacrificing of His own in such measure as will be sufficient to apply to every
member of Adam’s race. Each member of our race as he shall respond to the
knowledge that shall then be filling the whole earth, may receive life more and
more abundantly from the glorified Christ – everlasting life, the life that was
lost in Adam’s disobedience and that was redeemed by Christ’s sacrifice of
Himself.

The one from whom all life for the world must precede is
fitly called the father of the world, since the word father signifies
life-giver; and since this father gives life everlasting, it is eminently
proper that He should be called the father of everlasting life or the
everlasting father. Prince of Peace is another of His titles, but this one evidently
will not be appropriate to Him until, toward the close of the Millennial Age, He
shall have accomplished the putting down of everything obnoxious to Divine
righteousness, the subjugation of all things to Himself ─ until He shall have
finished the use of the iron rod in smiting the nations, in dashing them to
pieces as a potter’s vessel. Then it will be seen that the motive beyond all
this activity against unrighteousness was the bringing in of everlasting
righteousness, the bringing in of everlasting peace, and it will be seen that
the title well fits our great King, Prince of Peace.

THE LAW OF RETRIBUTION OPERATIVE

But, some inquire, what about
the sins of the world? Will there be no chastisement, no punishment, for these?
We answer that it will be equally as just for God to forgive the sins of the
world for Christ’s sake as it has been just for Him to forgive the sins of the
Church for Christ’s sake. If the one is just, so will be the other; for “God is
no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34), and is equally willing to forgive the
sins of the world as the sins of the Church (the Little Flock), when to forgive
the sins of the world, repenting of sin will turn from it, accepting
Christ as their Redeemer.

This does not mean, however,
that justice is to be ignored. In the case of the Church, note how the sins of
youth may leave their scar and sting to the end of life. And so we may
reasonably assume that certain stripes, or punishments, will be permitted to
follow the world in just the same manner. It will be from these weaknesses and
frailties that they will be gradually raised up to perfection during those
blessed thousand years of Christ’s Kingdom, when Satan will be bound and not be
permitted to deceive any during that period. But what about the heart
condition? If conformity to the Divine Law in an outward way will bring
blessings to all, will there not still be a difference between the people –
some coming heartily into accord with the Father, and others merely outwardly
into harmony, because this outward harmony will be the way to restitution,
perfection?

Undoubtedly this is correct reasoning. It is along this line
that the parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Matt. 25:31-46) teaches; namely,
that outwardly the “sheep” and “goats” will have much the same appearance and
demeanor, except to the Judge, the King, who will read the heart and ultimately
will manifest to all that there has been a real heart-difference between the
two classes, all of whom will have been on trial for a thousand years,
receiving blessings from the kingdom.

BASIS OF THE JUDGMENT

All the while each individual
will be making character. This character will be fully appreciated by the great
Judge, and the individual will be rated either as a “sheep” or as a “goat.” Not
until the conclusion of the Millennium will the decision of the Judge be
manifested. To the “sheep” at His right hand He will say, “Come ye blessed of
my Father [the kind that my Father is pleased to bless and to grant everlasting
1ifel], inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
(Matt: 25:34)

Then the
other class, the goats of the parable will be sentenced: “Depart, ye ac­cursed ones
[doomed ones] into everlasting punishment.” (Matt. 25:41)

Some think
that those who live unrighteous lives, and are very wicked, should not receive
a resurrection. But our Lord tells us there will be a resurrection of the good and
the evil ─ the evil to a resurrection of judgment (mistranslated damnation) –
John 5:28,29; and He is faithful that promised! (Heb. 10:23) “Though your sins
be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. If ye be willing and obedient, ye
shall eat the good of the land.” (Isa. 1:18, 19) “When the wicked man turneth
away from his wickedness that he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall
not die... For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the
Lord God; wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.” (Ezek. 18:27, 32)

Just as the
Millennial Age is for the world, the Gospel Age is for those who consecrate and
are seeking to “walk in His steps” during the time when sin is in ascendancy. They
are being judged daily, and if some apparently are breaking their vows in their
daily walk, but have not denied the Ransom, we are not to judge them as unfit
for the Kingdom, even though we know what is right and what is wrong. “We shall
all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.” (Rom. 14:10) So we should be
content to await the unerring and righteous judgment of Christ. Let us “Put ye
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfil the
lusts thereof.” (Rom. 13:14) “For if we would judge [examine] ourselves, we
shall not be judged [condemned – corrected and punished of the Lord]” (1 Cor.
11:31)

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
SHEEP CLASS

With the
establishment of the Kingdom all who come into harmony with it will have the
great privilege of doing something to help others. While the Mi1lennial blessings
will be showered upon those who accept the Lord’s terms, there will be others
who will need assistance. Those who have the spirit of God, the spirit of love,
will be glad to carry the heavenly message of reconciliation to all humanity,
glad to apply the eye-salve to the blind, glad to unstop the ears of the deaf,
glad to help the sin-sick back into harmony with God.

All who will take pleasure in this work will thus be
manifesting that they have God’s spirit and are co-laborers with Him. All these
will be the sheep. On the other hand, those who will be careless in respect to
their vow, and merely enjoy the Millennia1 blessings themselves, will be of the
goat-class and will thus be marking themselves as “goat,” and correspondingly
will be out of favor with the great King of kings, their Judge, the Lord of
Glory.

NO END OF RIGHTEOUS GOVERNMENT

The seventh
verse of our lesson gives another precious assurance, and that is that this
Kingdom once being attained by our Lord will never be surrendered to another,
never pass into other hands. Of His government and of His peace which He will
establish there will be no end (Luke 1:33). Not only Israel, but all mankind will have
been witnesses that the best of kings as well as the worst of kings have at
times surrendered their dominion, and that the best of kings might be followed
by the worst. How appropriate then the suggestion that when the kingdom of this
great King of kings and Lord of lords shall have conquered the world and have
subdued all things into harmony with the Divine will, it shall never again
be overturned by evil.

The expression “upon the throne
of David, and upon his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with judgment
and righteousness from henceforth even forever; the zeal of the Lord shall
perform this,” signifies that this great Kingdom which our Lord Jesus at His
Second Advent will establish – His Church as members of His body, members of
His Kingdom class, His bride associated with Him – will be the outcome, the
antitype of that which was typically presented to Israel in the kingdom, the
government of David. As previously seen, the name David signifies “Beloved,”
and the David who was the first king on Israel’s throne, and of whom it was
said that he sat upon the throne of the Lord, was merely a type, a figure of
the greater David, the Anointed, the Messiah. Jesus Christ, the first Lord of
all, and the Church His body associated with him, constitutes the antitypical David,
the antitypical Beloved of the Lord, who’s Kingdom shall be an
everlasting Kingdom, “henceforth even forever­more.”

UNENDING KINGDOM TRANSFERRED

The Apostle points out (1 Cor.
15:28) that, at the close of His thousand-year reign, our Lord (His Church
associated with Him) will abdicate the throne of earth. Having accomplished the
work which the Father has set apart to be accomplished by the Anointed in this
Millennial reign, at its close the entire authority, with the world in complete
sub­jection to the Divine law and fully restored to the Divine likeness and all
willful transgressors cut off, will be surrendered to the Father’s hands, and
in accordance with His prearrangement will be redeliv­ered to mankind, that the
perfect human family, in the image and likeness of God, may rule the world in
harmony with the Divine regulations. But the government will never cease,
because the govern­ment with Christ will be even more particularly associated
with the Father in His throne in the general government of the universe, it
will be in that particular sense under the supervision of the glorified Christ.

The zeal of
the Lord shall perform this. It will not be the arm of man nor the zeal of man,
however good or well meaning, which could bring to pass such wonderful changes
as those which the Lord has pointed out. The Lord Himself will accomplish it,
He will put all things into subjection to the Son ─ all things, the Apostle
explains, except Himself, for He is excepted who thus puts all things under the
Son (1 Cor. 15:27).

From this standpoint, looking
back over the history of the world, we get a grand view of the Divine Power and
Wisdom, Justice and Love. We see how God has been continually overruling in
respect to the efforts of man, to the intent that ultimately without
interfering with the free moral agency of any, every man of the whole race of
Adam shall be fully and thoroughly tested and proven respecting his loyalty to
the Lord, and thus respecting his worthiness of life eternal. How glorious is
the Divine Plan! What wonder is there that with its accomplishment every voice
in heaven and in earth shall be heard expressing praise and thankfulness,
glory, honor, dominion and might to Him that sitteth upon the throne and to the
Lamb!

It is our hope and prayer that what is given herein will
increase the love and appreciation of our great Redeemer and will give us
pleasure in the contemplation of the prayer, Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done
on earth as it is done in heaven. Hallelujah, what a Savior! He is mighty to
save! Our best wishes to all our readers for a peaceful and blessed Holiday
Season.

(Brother
John J. Hoefle, Reprint 450, December 1993)

____________________________________________________________________

LETTERS
OF GENERAL INTEREST

Dear Sister Marjorie: Loving greetings through our beloved
Redeemer!

I was indeed
saddened to learn of Sister Delta’s passing, but we are very comforted with the
knowledge that she is “asleep in Jesus’ awaiting God’s great Resurrection Day.
As we understand more clearly the meaning of the Resurrection, it makes us even
more joyful. This enables us not to mourn as others do who have no faith.

Dear Marjorie and all the Brethren there, and especially
Sister Delta’s family,

So sad to hear you
lost dear Delta on July 11, 2010. She had a long fight. I know you will all
miss her very much. It is so wonderful to know that in the coming Resurrection
we will all be together again and without these frail bodies with their pain
and sorrow. Please convey my thoughts and sympathy to her family as well.

Thank you for the
sympathy for my Sister. She was 86 so near Delta’s age as well. No matter the
age we miss our dear ones.